Words Fill Up the Dark
by Idlewild
Summary: Basically, Matt and Foggy read their law textbooks to each other. Results vary.


A stifled groan from Matt's side of the room broke Foggy out of his more or less focused studying. He looked up to see Matt squeezing his hands into fists with a vexed expression on his face. Somehow Matt must have noticed his being looked at, because he explained, 'I've been reading this stuff forever, my fingertips are so past numb.' He shook his hands in front of himself to illustrate. Or to wake them up, Foggy wasn't sure.

'Dude, I tried to do your finger-reading thing once and mine went numb after like a thirty-six seconds, remember? I don't know how you do it for hours on end…'

'With great discomfort, that's how,' Matt sighed. 'You know what, screw this. I need to not touch anything for a few hours.' He closed his book and slapped it on his nightstand with more force than precision. A different book fell to the floor. Matt fell back onto his bed, ignoring it.

Foggy watched his antics with an ill-suppressed smile. Why he even bothered trying to suppress it was beyond him. 'Well, you deserve a break. Hell, we both do. Can I interest you in a beer, my man?' He was halfway to the mini-fridge in the corner when Matt sat back up, apparently catching himself being a less-than-perfect-for-once student and looking appalled at the brief lapse.

'Foggy, we have a test on Thursday.' Matt slumped, flicking his hands again. 'Hey, do we have any Coke or anything?'

'I thought you hated that crap?' Something about artificial flavouring – Foggy had cut him off at the time because he really didn't even want to know.

Matt displaced his glasses by shoving his hands under them to rub his eyes – which to Foggy seemed kind of pointless, all things considered – then put the glasses neatly on the textbook he had been reading. 'Well, right now I could do with something sugary…'

So Foggy resumed his mini-fridge mission and listed the contents. 'There's Coke, Coke, some more Coke, oh and a diet pineapple Fanta that I think Kathy left here the other day…'

'Diet kinda defeats the purpose of drinking sugary stuff, don't you think?'

'Coke it is.' Foggy restrained an absurd impulse to toss it to him and put it directly in this hand instead. 'One for you, one for me, one Fanta for the fridge to keep forever. Or until I become desperate.'

'Or until Kathy comes back,' Matt said, grinning. Foggy made a pfffft-ing sound. 'What? She seems sweet.'

Foggy rolled his eyes. 'A bit too sweet, actually. Oh, and I just rolled my eyes at you,' he added as an afterthought. Matt chuckled and shook his head, opening his drink and then simply holding it in his hands, all ten fingers splayed against the cold metal. A thought occurred to Foggy. 'Hey, what chapter were you on?'

'Eleven. Why?'

'Me too! Radical idea, here: how about you rest your poor digits and I read aloud for a while?'

Matt frowned at him kind of quizzically, and before he could come out with any of his patented "you don't have to pamper me, I can do everything on my own" bullshit, Foggy added, 'That might keep me from falling asleep with boredom, so it's a win-win!'

It was, as it turned out. The reading-session turned into a semi-discussion that made them both understand the chapter far better than they had on their own.

* * *

A theatrical groan from Foggy's side of the room made Matt's fingers pause on the tiny dots of the page. He could hear Foggy vigorously rubbing his face. 'If I have to read any more of this right now, I swear my eyes will shrivel and you'll have to teach me that dotty-dot reading after all…' he muttered.

'Braille,' Matt corrected him, automatically.

'Yeah, that.' Foggy snapped his book shut and dropped it on the carpet before throwing himself back against the wall. 'Because at least you don't need proper lighting to read. I kinda do, and it's wa-a-a-ay too dark in here.'

'Is it? I hadn't noticed,' Matt deadpanned.

'Very funny, Batman.' Foggy tried to sound annoyed, but Matt could hear the repressed smile. He decided not to point out that bats aren't actually blind.

'Well then, Robin, how about you go grab that pineapple Fanta and I'll read aloud this time?'

Foggy grinned very loudly now. 'Nay to the Fanta, resounding aye to listening to your dulcet tones!' He practically hopped over to the fridge, dove in and reemerged with a can in each hand. 'Wait, you can't really drink this while reading, can you?'

'Let's drink, then I'll read. But I'd honestly rather have water.' One carbonated serving of sweetened chemicals per month seemed like plenty.

Foggy handed over a plastic bottle instead, then clunked his can to it before returning to his bed.

Twenty-seven minutes and half a case study later, Matt tossed his now-empty water bottle at him to wake him up.

* * *

 **A/N:** Because I've tried reading Braille, and while it may have taken slightly more than 36 seconds (Foggy tends towards hyperbole) my fingertips did get very sore pretty fast...

I enjoy imagining the little domesticities Foggy and Matt had going on at uni. Plot bunny happened; more chapters may follow. Credit for the title goes to my buddy bluemoonygirl on Tumblr. :)


End file.
